Jillian Dickens
Northern News Services

Coral Harbour (Oct 19/05) - Coral Harbour high school student Delilah Misheralak is kind of nervous, kind of frantic, but mostly thrilled about her trip to Belgium and France for the Aboriginal Spiritual Journey from Oct. 25 to Nov. 4.

Delilah, along with a group of aboriginal veterans and 12 other aboriginal youth, will visit Ypres, Vimy Ridge and Juno Beach, performing spiritual ceremonies to honour fallen First Nations and Inuit soldiers who fought for Canada.

Delilah was recognized as an ideal youth to represent Nunavut through an essay contest.

"I just has to write about my thoughts on the veterans," said Delilah. "I wrote about how important they are and how much courage they have for fighting for the peace of people they don't even know.

"Not many people get the chance to honour these soldiers and see the history like this."

But she has a lot of preparation before she can really enjoy what's to come.

"I've been really busy with getting all my passport papers together."

Delilah has been to Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet, and recently was in Baker Lake last month for a science camp last month.

None of that has prepared her for her first trip overseas.

She doesn't know what to expect from Europe, but has some thoughts of the subject.

"I expect it to be clean, warm and friendly."

But what she's looking forward to the most is "meeting new friends" and being able to say "been there, done that."